This invention relates generally to boatlifts and more particularly concerns boatlift walkways.
A pontoon system for supporting a watercraft on a body of water is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,179 issued to Henry A. Rutter and assigned to National Hydrohoist Company. That system is presently manufactured and marketed by the present assignee, Hydrohoist International, Inc., successor of the former assignee. In that system, walkways of rectangular shape and having a series of floats mounted beneath them served dual purposes as a walkway on either side of the boat and also as a support for the lift in its submerged condition. Originally, the walkway's wooden boards extended for a length of approximately 16 to 20 feet. Since the issuance of their patent, the walkways have been modified to consist of a single piece of fiberglass extending 16 to 26 feet. Sidewalls extend downwardly from the walkway and the space defined by sidewalls depending from the walkway is filled with a flotation foam to provide the desired buoyancy.
In either arrangement, the elongated walkway is hinged at its front and rear ends to the main body of the lift. If it is damaged, the entire length of walkway must be removed for repair or replacement. During this time, the boatlift is unusable. Furthermore, if damage to the walkway is sufficient to crack the board or fiberglass all the way through, the separated portions will hinge, permitting the lift to sink when the primary pontoons are filled with water.
In addition to the above problems of inoperability of the lift, the present arrangement has other drawbacks. The walkways must be stored and shipped in their 16 to 26 foot lengths. If damage to a walkway cannot be repaired, the entire walkway must be replaced. Additional time and materials are further required to fill the underside of the fiberglass with buoyant foam or to secure floats under the wooden board. Furthermore, the contour of the walkway is such that, if a watercraft inadvertently makes contact with it from an inopportune direction, it could cause damage to the hull of the watercraft.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a buoyant walkway for a lift which is modular rather than of single piece construction. It is another object of this invention to provide a buoyant walkway for a lift having pneumatically discrete modules so that damage to a single module is less likely to defeat the flotation feature of the walkway. It is yet another object of this invention to provide a buoyant walkway for a lift which does not require the attachment of flotation materials to achieve buoyancy. A further object of this invention is to provide a buoyant walkway for a lift which will support the lift despite damage to or even removal of a modular component of the walkway.